The Centers for Disease Control became the first federal agency to acknowledge health risks from cell phone use – then suddenly back-tracked. Sometime before early June, unnoticed by many in the media, the C-D-C posted significant new wording in a “Frequently Asked Questions” section on its website. To the question, “Do cell phones cause health problems in children?” it read, “It’s too soon to know for sure,” and went on to say children will have more exposure over a lifetime growing up with cell phones. But last week, that was changed to simply, “It’s not known if cell phone use by children can cause health problems.” D-C-based public interest lawyer Jim Turner speculates the changes were triggered either by industry lobbyists, government officials, or both.
The C-D-C has not returned a request for comment. The agency made other back-tracking language changes regarding possible cancer and other health risks from cell phones. Louis Slesin, editor and publisher of Microwave News, says the softening of the C-D-C’s language is puzzling because, as he puts it, they’ve got “bigger fish to fry.”
The C-D-C website also originally said, “We recommended caution in cell phone usage,” but has removed the “we.” Jim Turner says even the softened statement is an eye-opener.
Slesin says he can’t understand – and the C-D-C won’t tell him – why they backed away from acknowledging several international studies that suggest health risks from cell phones.
The agency also says in the F-A-Qs that “more research is needed.” Turner says that statement alone should spur the nation’s nearly 328-million cell phone users to learn more about the potential hazards – and what they might do to lessen them.